TRP: Bretta and Larkin (Redbird)
Jen: at 12:09 PM Setting Day 166, after the Footprints session. Basha warehouse. The upside of getting dragged into looking for these useless blueprints was, Larkin had gotten a free ride to Skyport. She hadn't planned on going back for a personal report for another week or two but here she was. And admittedly, the ordeal had gotten her more information than the whole of her information gathering in Glimmerton so far. Renar wouldn't be exactly happy, but certainly interested. She climbed the outside stairs to the top of the warehouse and knocked on the door. The spying window slid open to reveal Shrewd's yellow eyes, and a moment later he opened. He opened his mouth to demand she give up her weapons or something but she cut him off. "Fucking forget it. How many times I gotta tell you I'm not doing that dance?" "How many times do I have to tell you it's my job and I'll do it?" "You're doing a shit job." Larkin looked around the little entrance room but for once, there was no bottle around. At least he was doing it sober for once. "I gotta go see uncle," she said and brushed past him into the living area. Renar's office door was closed. She knocked four times and after a moment, it opened and Renar's right hand man stuck her head out. "Larkin. Aren't you supposed to be in Glimmerton?" Bretta's voice was cold rough around the edges and carrying that challenging undertone it always did. "Got to be in Skyport by coincidence," Larkin said. "Thought I'd use the opportunity to report. Actually, I gotta talk to uncle about that coincidence as well." Izzy: at 12:13 PM "He isn't available," Bretta said shortly, and appraised Larkin for a moment. Then she backed away, opening the door further and gesturing Larkin in, going to stand behind Renar's desk and shuffling some paperwork around. "Report, then. Why are you away from your post?" Jen: at 12:14 PM Larking followed in but kept standing just inside the door. "I wanna talk to him directly. Where is he?" Izzy: at 12:17 PM Bretta's eyes cut up and her hands went still. "Otherwise occupied. Skyport continues to move while you're away, Larkin." Jen: at 12:28 PM Just answer the fucking question. Larkin pressed her lips together tight and grunted before saying it out loud. "Not my fucking choice," she muttered but turned to close the door, then went to sit on a bench near the desk. "Things in Glimmerton will run without me for a night or two. Place's deader than a cat in a dog pen. I got news, though, but I need to ask you something first." Larkin paused to make sure she had Bretta's attention. "You know about someone of us breaking into the Glimmerton castle vault?" Izzy: at 12:32 PM "No." She looked at Larkin with an eyebrow raised, then back to her work, adjusting her half-moon glasses briefly. "Had we any particular interest in your guild friends, we would have sent you." Jen: at 12:37 PM Larkin nodded. "Yeah. Thought so. Just wanted to make sure." She thought for a moment but couldn't come up with any names that were more likely to have done the job. Whoever it was either had a spare key or was an excellent safe cracker. Or both. Finch. The thought made her stomach twist and she shoved it away quickly, with a sigh. "Hey, I'm gonna ask Sonny to be on the look out but if you hear about anyone trying to fence dwarven airship blueprints, could you let me know?" Izzy: at 12:40 PM Bretta made a vaguely interested sound. "Certainly." She looked up again. "This is in connection to your reason for being in Skyport?" Jen: at 12:42 PM "Yes." Larkin nodded again. "You remember what I reported about the people working with the Runners? The one called Jonn Sterling?"(edited) Izzy: at 12:43 PM "Somewhat." Jen: at 12:48 PM "Short." Larkin held her hand out, indicating the height. "Little son of a bitch, fucked us over and caused that zombie shit show. Works for Baron. Some of the Runners for whatever idiotic reason still keep contact with him so they went to ask him about the blueprints and I came along." She paused and waited if Bretta had any reaction to that.(edited) Izzy: at 12:49 PM Again, Bretta looked up briefly, then to her work. "Continue." Jen: at 12:53 PM "So." Larkin got up and started pacing, working her knuckles against her palms. "Apparently, Baron's not only vanished, she's also been replaced. Some asshole called Morgan Wyn. I'm not sure how long ago but it's reasonable to assume at least as long as we've had reports of the guild acting weird." Izzy: at 12:54 PM Slowly, Bretta set aside what she had been working on, and found a fresh sheet of paper. She began taking notes. "Morgan Wyn. Interesting. Tell me more." Jen: at 1:00 PM "Yeah. Morgan Wyn." Larkin stopped in front of the desk and begann ticking off her fingers. "Half-elf lady, looks about mid thirties in human years. She's called the guild the 'Sanguines', like the word for blood. Sounded like she hasn't just changed Skyport Thieves' name, though, but took them over with another group of her own. She has this weird little..." Larkin snapped her fingers,"shoulder dragon? Like a dragon but tiny. It's red. These sanguines seem to have an obsession with red anyway, they wear it like a uniform." She halted and frowned, remembering the encounter with Wyn. "She... knew me. Recognised me. I don't think I've ever seen her before, though." Izzy: at 1:03 PM Bretta wrote until Larkin stopped talking, then tapped her pen in the corner of the paper. "Troubling." She looked up, eyes narrowed, staring into space thoughtfully. "We'll see what we can find out about her and this guild." Her eyes snapped to Larkin, sharp. "What does Sterling know about you?" Jen: at 1:10 PM Larkin grimaced. "He... knows who I work for, obviously. He knows I'm close to one of the Runners but he's too dumb and not dangerous enough to use it against me. He doesn't even seem to think he's on my list." She shook her head, snorting disdainfully. "I never talk about what I do for the Basha. And I'm certain enough he doesn't know where I live or my connections." But Finch does, doesn't he? Larkin cringed internally but tried not to let it show. Yeah, Finch would know a lot more about her. He would not know she had moved back into their first shared place but it wouldn't be too hard to find out. Only... would he tell? Larkin hoped not, against the odds.(edited) Izzy: at 1:11 PM "Hm." More pen-tapping, then a couple more notes. "What else?" Jen: at 1:19 PM "Wyn's definitely trying to expand." Larkin was back to cracking her knuckles, one by one. "She's stationed posts in several place outside the city and she's trying to recruit nobility." She looked up, catching Bretta's eyes. "Wyn thinks she can put the Basha out of business." Izzy: at 1:29 PM More pen-tapping. Then Bretta set her pen down, and studied Larkin for a long moment. "We're keeping this quiet," she said, slowly. "I trust you can keep your tongue still. Renar is unavailable currently because there has been -- an incident. Two of our cartel heads have been assassinated. Again," she reminded Larkin sharply -- "we aren't speaking of this. No need to incite panic. The damage is being controlled. But it is ... an incident." Jen: at 1:33 PM Larkin froze and she stared. "Who? How?" Izzy: at 1:39 PM Bretta shuffled papers again, casually. "No cause for alarm." She looked back down. "It's being taken care of. Not by you." Back up, adjusting her glasses, fixing Larkin with a cool stare. "They were taken out at once, during a meeting. Very clean. Efficient. We doubted the Thieves' ability to handle such a job, and suspected a betrayal from the Melaines, but this information about some other guild overtaking Baron's people -- it's very useful, Larkin." Back down, a few more notes. "If there's nothing else, you should get back to work." Jen: at 1:44 PM Larkin unclenched her hands, working the fingers again, then forcing them still. "No," she said, voice dropping a pitch. "Glimmerton's a fucking dead end. I'm gonna call off the operation or send someone else to take care of it, whatever, but I'm not gonna go back there while our heads are getting picked off. What if uncle's next?" Izzy: at 1:45 PM "He won't be." She looked at Larkin over her glasses. "Your job is to locate Helena Baron. Get back to it." Jen: at 1:52 PM Larkin glared back, unblinking. "I'm not just some soldier, or headman. I'm fucking family." She emphasised the word by taking a step forward and swatting a hand to her chest. "You should give me more information than that and you should let me stay here and do something about this Wyn asshole instead of-" she bared her teeth and flung her arm out at the vague direction of Glimmerton. "Instead of dumping me in the fucking backwoods with a bunch of street level gangsters and no real purpose!" Izzy: at 1:54 PM "I'm aware of who you are." She kept looking at Larkin, unflinching. "You have your orders. You know who they came from. Don't try to argue with me, Larkin." Jen: at 2:10 PM Larkin opened her mouth to keep protesting but the look Bretta cut her let it die in her throat. Larkin worked her mouth open and closed like a fish, but finally settled for a frustrated hiss and kicked a chair. "Why, though?" she said a bit calmer. "I don't get it. Why wouldn't Renar want me to help in Skyport?" Izzy: at 2:13 PM "Perhaps you're too valuable to risk," Bretta said idly, writing. "Perhaps you're a liability. There's a safecracker, an arcanist, working for Baron -- for this Wyn person, now, I suppose. We've heard him called Redbird. Do you suppose you know who that might be?" Jen: at 2:32 PM That shut her up entirely. Larkin had supposed this was another one of Renar's attempts to cement her firmer into the hierarchy but that- her being sent off to be kept safe- hadn't even occurred to her. Bullshit, though. She might be family but she was no one overly important in the cartel. Then the rest of the question reached her. "I... don't know," she said slowly, quietly. Safecracker, arcanist, works for the guild. She closed her eyes and grimaced. Ah, fuck. He'd brought this onto himself, dumping her and starting to work for fucking Helena. This was more important than the stupid fragments of attachment Larkin still felt for her former partner. He'd probably spilled everything he knew about Larkin to Baron the moment she'd taken him in. "Finch." Larkin pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing through her teeth. "He used to... go after safes. He'd broken into Baron Dillahunty's special vault before he started working for Renar. Y'know, the one uncle had specially made. And Finch has magic. He's Sterling's partner now." Izzy: at 2:35 PM "Mm. And I suppose you realize --" she cut her eyes up momentarily -- "that this connection could pose a problem for your utility in our efforts." Jen: at 2:36 PM Larkin said nothing and stared out of a window instead. Izzy: at 2:39 PM Bretta kept writing and sat in silence for a moment. She closed a notebook, stacked some papers, rolled them together and bound the scroll up with a length of twine. Started on a new task. "Was there anything else?" Jen: at 2:46 PM "No," Larkin said curtly, and turned to leave, but stopped after two steps. "Actually, yeah. The guild did a job on the Ohara family yesterday. I tried to sabotage it but it went through. They were trying to recruit Tessa, the daughter." Izzy: at 2:47 PM "Hm. Noted." Jen: at 2:57 PM "Okay." Larkin lingered for a moment longer, waiting for something else, but Bretta's attention was firmly tied to her papers again. This woman. Larkin turned and left the room without another word, wondering not for the first time why Renar hadn't married her yet. She was Calish, with the same sense business and zero bullshit attitude as him. All the strings of his empire ran through her hands. If he was the heart of the cartel, she was was its back bone. Izzy: at 3:06 PM END Title: Redbird. Summary: Larkin goes to talk to her uncle and finds out from his right hand, Bretta Khash, that two of the Basha's cartel heads have been assassinated. She passes on information and learns that she may be stationed out in Glimmerton to keep her safe ... or because her ex-partner Finch working for the enemy might make her a liability. Category:Text Roleplay